Chapter 8 ★Lepudu【Note】
[Annotation] Le Pouldu (Le Pouldu): A small fishing village in the Brittany region of France.
Atelier felt as if she was floating in the sky.She likes clouds.Lying on the sand dunes, watching the clouds in the sky move quickly, the body is light and free.She imagined where the clouds had been, the boundaries of the ocean, the realm of the waves, before they came before her eyes.The clouds are sliding, not very high, and the small white balls sometimes touch together, close together, or separate.There are also some nervous ones, running faster than other clouds, and scattered into balls of cotton wool, like dandelion seeds, like reed flower spikes.Under the clouds, the ground shook slowly, making people dizzy.The waves rolling on the beach are a propeller, pushing the sea level and overturning the world, irresistible.Then came a great gray cloud and came between her and the sun, and Edie saw a whale with a huge head and a small tail at the far end of the body.The sand of the dunes gently surrounds Adie, wraps her, and covers her.Gusts of wind whipped her face, her legs, her arms like millions of tiny needles.She felt as if she had never left this place, her place on the dunes, in the white dry sand, where the sea would never touch, but there were some thorny plants there, and the red willow seeds were everywhere on the ground.
The summer when I was twelve years old.The first time she fell in love with a boy whose name she had forgotten, he was fifteen or sixteen, and she trembled when he approached her, and when he kissed her, he pushed her lips with the tip of his tongue.Clouds drifted by like now, and she could feel the heat and heat opening and closing in the sky and in her body.Something strange and disturbing.
She and the gang of young people made a plan together, and they agreed to cycle the farm trails, from village to village, from city to city, and sleep on the beach or, if it rained, in the barn.The boys and girls came from nearby holiday houses like Le Poudou, Beymel, and she lived with her parents in Mrs Riou's pension.This summer, she met Luo Hong for the first time.Field, who lives with his aunt and sister in a rented villa by the sea.At first, Adele thought he was shy, almost clumsy.Little things can make him blush.In that year, Eddie experienced the great friendship between her and Xenia, he was the opposite of Xenia, he was rich, he was very serious, there was no laughter or tears.
Later, gradually, the number of meetings increased, and love grew.Not the radiant, obsessively great love affair, and nothing like Shania and Daniel.The drama of a multi-nickel engagement This unexplainable contract, a Russian aristocratic girl, an immigrant, with a life in trouble, commits herself to a taciturn and suspicious fat boy who will let her have what a family of factory owners owns The sense of security and decency, and the comfortable life of Rouen [Note 1] Bourgeois.No, their love is not like that at all.Luo Hong.Field loves Eddie very much. Since last summer, he has written a letter to her every week, sometimes twice, always in the same way on the thick paper envelope, and it is written in correct calligraphy:
Ai Dieer.Miss Bouhan
30 Rue Cotentin
Paris 15th district
The postage stamp with the head of George VI is always stamped with the same words: Charing Cross Station [Note 2].
[Annotation] Rouen: a large city in the Normandy region of France.
【Annotation】Charing Cross Station: Located in London.
Every time she opened the envelope, she could smell the slightly sour smell of the letter paper, which was the smell of sweat.Her eyes scanned the neat handwriting. In these short sentences, Luo Hong talked about politics, literature, and jazz, but never mentioned his feelings.Sometimes she did not read the letter, but, after sniffing the paper, folded it and put it back in the envelope, asserting that she had not opened it.She is thankful that she loves less than she is loved.What came to her mind was Senia's maxim: I, what I want, is to meet a man who loves me more than I love him.
Now, Luo Hong is there.He boarded the ship from Newport, wearing brand-new British Army uniform.His boat cap, his overcoat, his khakis and his shiny black shoes.Eddie held back a mocking smile, because he looked the same as in the past, not like a soldier, but like a lawyer, going to the old part of London, going to work, what was even more ugly was that his face was covered by The air at sea was reddened, his nose was sunburned, his hair was cut short, he held a small black leather case in his hand, and his umbrella was tucked away under his side.
[Annotation] Newhaven (Newhaven): The southern port of England, facing the English Channel, an important port for British and French maritime traffic.
He asked for a room in the same pension, and they rode bicycles rented at Conon's Garage and wandered along sunken paths over hills to the sea, where they ate bran bread and salt Meat, crepes in taverns, they soaked in the high tide, they washed their bodies in the icy water of the Leita.They smell of seaweed and sea sand, their sandals and underwear are gray sand, and their hair has grains of salt stuck to them.Luo Hong's nose, shoulders, and legs were sunburned and the skin peeled off. When they were lying on the beach, Adie'er's game was to tear off strips of dried skin and throw them into the air to let the wind blow away.In the evening, their hair was disheveled, and they dragged their exhausted bodies back to the rental apartment. Luo Hong, out of courtesy, sat at the table of the Bouhans and his wife and listened to Alexander's speech, while Ai Dier went straight to her small room under the roof. He fell asleep on the bed without even changing his clothes, and fell asleep without hearing the wind whistling among the slates.
Inside her, there was a certain kind of anger.The fits were like the chills of a fever, exhilarating and repulsive, irrepressible and incomprehensible.Obviously, she couldn't tell anyone about this feeling.Shania, perhaps, if she was there.But Senia would laugh at her: Your life is too easy, too much money, too much of everything.Because of this, you don't know what you want.It is up to you to gain or lose the world.and so on.
Maybe she won't say anything.Shania is an extremely egotistical person, and things that have nothing to do with her don't exist, it's that simple.
Is the world really sick?This chill, this disgust, all this came from very far away, very long ago.Now, in the summer of the dunes, in Lepudu, waiting for the moment to meet her lover, Aidel can count all the roots, lateral roots, leaf veins, and all capillaries of this disease. This disease is like a piece of cloth, covering her whole life.This is not imagination at all.It's every little betrayal, it's the silence that dwells in everyone's heart every day and night, it's the emptiness.Sometimes too strong words, emotional violence, Justine's voice raised in the night broke into a bell-like sob, Alexander's voice in response, a low grunt that slowly amplified and rumbled.Then there was the sound of slamming doors, the sound of leather shoes walking farther and farther in the corridor, another slamming door, and the sound of footsteps on the street gradually disappeared into the night.Edel was waiting, looking forward to her father coming home. She fell asleep before she heard the light footsteps in the corridor, her breathing was heavier because of sleepiness and because of the cigarette smoke.
All the salon talk, the irrelevant, the bragging, all these voices, these Mauritian women crooning, the smell of vanilla sugar, cinnamon, from leftover saffron curry and slightly sour chardini. Note] floating over.Empty, arrogant, unreasonable, the way people in the family deny reality, the names they throw out, these relatives who have disappeared forever may never have actually existed at all.These bizarre, out-of-the-box, and glittering names, the small aristocratic class on Mauritius Island, because of the history of the Bouhan family, she has more or less relationship with these names (fortunately, the Bouhan family does not feel the need to use the surname Add a German word for nobles in Riga).They were the names of people from operettas, and the names of mares and stallions bred in stud farms.
【Annotation】Chardiner Sauce: A sauce originating from India, made with vegetables, fruits, and spices, often used to accompany spicy dishes and rice.
Axiongbo's family, Bernier, De.Jie Xiyi, De.Grammond, De.Grompley, De.Esper, Houban.De.The Tuva family, De.The Suweiler family, De.Steher, De.St. Daleph, De.Sheng︱Nolov, Pichon.De.Feng Fu's family, Ke Leixi.Du.Yahe's family, Penta Longweihe, Xie Lezi.De.Stierling's family, Kehaon.De.pull.Mott, De.Edward, De.Zhong Weiler, Kreyach.Du.Hejie, De.Soulett, De.Sanhe, De.Ahmo.
Last year, on September 23rd and 24th, there was already news of a wave of refugees fleeing from the northern border. These people drove horse-drawn carts and pulled two-wheeled carts, and all rushed onto the road.The storm hit them, knocking the trees down on the road.The cold winter of early registration, the financial turmoil, the bank demanded that the company repay the debt immediately, and then the bank bosses hid the keys under the door and ran to hide in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Argentina.
The voice of the radio crackling, hoarse, powerful, getting louder and higher.His sentences were launched into the air, and then the rumors around them came, like a chorus, the sound of the sea breaking on the pebbles on the shore, the crash of the waves on the breakwater.The noise of the crowd, over there, somewhere, in Munich, in Vienna, in Berlin.Or in the amphitheater building of the Winter Velodrome [Note 1], the followers of La Hoque [Note 2], Mojas [Note 3], and Daudet [Note 4] are fighting for the Union [Note 5] ] Cheers, booing for the Communists.And the voices of women, of madwomen, in the salons of the Rue Cotentin, exclaiming excitedly: What power, what genius, what regime, my dear friends, how Impressive will, even if we don't understand, he still inspires us, he will save us from those old devils, because of him, we will not be invaded by Lenin, a sinister Asian, he will overcome Stalin, with him we will not be ruled by barbarians.
【Annotation 1】Winter Velodrome: A free car race built in Paris in 1909.
[Annotation 2] La Hoque (1885︱1946): French right-wing politician. In 1927, he organized nationalists who had participated in World War I to create the Fire Cross. Political enemies and some historians regarded it as As a fascist, he founded France's first right-wing mass political party, the French Christian Socialist Party, in 1936. The leftists regard it as the main political opponent. He opposed the Russian totalitarian government and also opposed the German totalitarian government. During World War II, he had a relationship with the Vichy regime. At the same time, he organized an underground resistance army, was arrested by the Gestapo, and his life was quite controversial.
[Annotation 3] Mojas: During the Second World War, he was the mouthpiece of the Vichy regime. After the war, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for treason and collaborating with the enemy. The French Academy revoked his academicianship.
【Annotation 4】Leon.Daudet (1867︱1942): French journalist, writer, politician, one of the founders of the rightist "Action de France", and served as editor-in-chief, deputy director, and editor-in-chief.Alphonse Alfons, the author of the short story "The Last Lesson" well-known to Taiwanese readers.Dude is his father.
【Annotation 5】Alliance: The French Action Alliance, a royalist and nationalist movement founded in 1905, Mojas and Daudet are both founders.Action de France split during World War II into the Vichy regime faction, the underground resistance faction, and the pro-German faction.
Embedded in the hot sand, Adel watched as the pine forest moved forward beneath the clouds.One afternoon, at dusk, bats began to go out on patrol, sticking to the sand dunes to hunt down bugs. In the quiet air, the flat-tide sea gurgled against the intertidal zone. Adieer and Luo Hong had been soaking in the sea for a long time without swimming. Just let the listless waves carry them around.The beach is extremely quiet, there are no people for several kilometers.They didn't take off their wet swimsuits, and they made love on the beach full of pine needles, or it was a simulation of action, Luo Hong's tight penis was in the black fabric, pressed against Adie's penis stuck in the white swimsuit On, it was a long and slow dance at first, and then it became faster, their skin trembled slightly in the cool air, dripping fine beads of sweat as salty as sea water, Adie's face was thrown back towards the sky Closing his eyes, Luo Hong supported his arched body, opened his eyes wide, the expression on his face was distorted, and the muscles on his back and arms were tense.They listened to the bursts of heartbeats and the rapid panting of their lungs.Ai Die'er's orgasm came first, followed by Luo Hong, he immediately turned aside, covering his swimming trunks with his hands, star-shaped hot currents gushed out.
Luo Hong quietly waited to catch his breath, and planned to apologize, he was still clumsy, almost shy, but Ai Dieer didn't let him have time to do so.She rolled onto him with all her weight, the sand creaking between her teeth, and locks of hair covered her entire face like black seaweed.She sealed his mouth with a kiss.Don't say anything, don't say a word, a single word, let alone: I love you, or anything like that.
In the evening, they went back to Mrs. Rieux's pension, and they pedaled hard on the sandy path, their faces flushed and their hair blown tousled by the wind.They dined early, without listening to the chatter of their tablemates, or Alexander's voice lecturing to his usual audience.Only Justine looked at them out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes were slow and sad, which meant that she knew.They went back to their room to sleep, and each lay back on their narrow beds, under the crisp sheets, with hot sand embedded in their backs and crotches, and a small lump of hardened sand in their navels.
Luo Hong returns to England.On the platform of Gare du Nord, he was standing with a small suitcase in his hand. Because of the hot weather, the collar of his military uniform was half open, his boat cap was rolled up and buckled under his epaulets, and his skin was still brown from the sun and sea. .Adie put her cheek against the young man's chest, but she couldn't hear his heartbeat because of the noise on the platform.
Time passed in a flash, and they had to let their minds fully return to reality.It seems that everything is speeding up, like someone is struggling to turn the rocker of a movie projector, jumping scenes, funny staccato, people running fast, rolling eyes, twisted expressions.After returning to Paris from Brittany, the auction began.In the living room, it looks like a funeral has just been finished.The furniture was all pushed together and covered with sheets, and the lid of the Erhard piano was lifted so that the merchants could try every key, as if it were real.For a moment, Adele was so angry that she sat on the piano chair, straightened her back, and calmed down.She started to play the piano, she was still a little stiff at first, then she felt a rush of heat into her body, and slowly, she played a Chopin's "Nocturne", the sliding notes came out from the open French windows, echoing in the autumn In the withered garden, she believed that she had never played so well, never felt such strength.The leaves of the chestnut tree are circling in the wind. Every paragraph of "Nocturne" is accompanied by the fall of a few leaves. Every note and every leaf is her farewell to music, youth and love. This is her farewell to Luo Farewell to Hong, to Shania, to Mr. Soliman, to House Purple, she bids farewell to everything she knows.Before long, there will be nothing left.When she finished playing, Adie put the piano on hard, like covering a jewelry box, the old piano made a heavy and strange noise, and all the strings vibrated together.A whimper, or should I say a bitter sneer, Atie thought.Justine stood beside her, her eyes were red and filled with tears.It's time to cry, Atelier muttered.But the words didn't really come out of her throat.Time to cry, yes, but the time for you to cry was yesterday, when you could do something about it.
[Annotation] Ehar Piano: The grand piano made by Ehar (1752︱1831) is loved by countless musicians such as Beethoven, Haydn, and Chopin.
Music time is over, and business continues as usual.Second-hand dealers, antique dealers, junk collectors, porters.The aunts came, and so did they, like little mice, stealing something here and something there, a pair of Chinese vases, a Baccarat crystal fruit bowl, a plate of Indian companies with branches and leaves, A small pendulum clock to tell the time, a bronze paperweight in the shape of a beagle dog (Adeel always saw it on Mr. Soliman's pencil case).Justine and Alexander let them take anything, dazed and unresponsive.Memories of good times.The aunts said so, to find a reason for themselves.Adie looked at them mercilessly.Afterwards, Mr. Zhuju, the bailiff of the court, began to carry out the first property inventory. He also put a set of gold-plated silver spoons into his pocket, and said calmly and in a hypocritical voice: You don’t have to worry about it. , madam, I will make an inventory that is in your best interest.
Only one thing made Justine jump, and that was Joseph being sold by his brother, this big ugly painting, said to be Hippolyte.Frondham's work, which was given to her by her grandmother, was missing from the inventory.When it was time for the junk dealer to come on stage, she stood in front of the painting, with her arms folded on her chest, and her eyes were so firm that no porter dared to step forward.The painting ended up joining the mess in the hallway, the things that escaped seizure and couldn't be sold.Of course, no one, especially Justine, could have imagined that the lead carriages carrying these things would be attacked by Stuka bombers during the last German air raids on the railway bridge, and Joseph would be looted, Get stolen and disappear forever!Sold, as Joseph should have been, sold by his brothers, honest men eager to empty the wagons that had blown up.